Welcome to another Friday Reads post. This week I’m delighted to be talking to Emma Orchard, author of the historical romance, What The Lady Wants. If you’re a Bridgerton fan this is one for you! Emma is going to tell us a little about the book, and her writing life. So grab yourself a cuppa, get comfy and let’s get chatting to Emma! 😊
Blurb
Autumn, 1816…
Lady Ashby is grieving the death of her beloved husband, just two years earlier. Although still young and beautiful, Isabella is resolved never to marry again, and plans to leave London, return to her parents’ Yorkshire house, and resign from society before the year is over. But first, she wants one more taste of life…
Isabella has written a list, the contents of which, if discovered, would create a scandal that neither she nor her family would recover from. A list of things she would like to experience, just once more, before she surrenders herself to the life of a widow. And she knows just the man to help her: her friend, handsome and honourable Captain Leo Winterton.
But Captain Winterton has a secret of his own. He is in love with Isabella – and when she makes her most improper proposal to him, he is powerless to resist her, even if she is resolved never to love again. Can he persuade her they are destined to be together? Or will their impropriety be discovered, to the ruin of both?
Buy Link : : https://mybook.to/whattheladywantssocial
Welcome to my blog, Emma. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I think I probably have, but life intervened and I ended up helping other people get published in my day job as a literary agent. I only started writing when I hit 50 and thought, It’s now or never.
Has any author inspired you?
I’m a huge Georgette Heyer fan, and it’s her 122nd birthday today, 16th August. Happy birthday, Miss Heyer! I started off writing Heyer fan fiction, and my first book, THE SECOND LADY SILVERWOOD, was directly inspired by her SPRIG MUSLIN. I’ve been reading and loving her books since I was 11, for their wit, humour, style, adventure and wonderful romance. That said, there are many, many things in my novels that she would disapprove of, especially my latest book WHAT THE LADY WANTS. We’re all writing in her shadow in Regency, whether we admit it or not, but the genre would have died out by now – instead of going from strength to strength – if it didn’t have the ability to change. I don’t have a lot of time for the people who attack her, though – she’s an easy target, she’s been dead for 50 years; of course she had views that we don’t find acceptable.
What do you like writing most?
I love writing dialogue. That’s the joy of Regency for me – the very varied ways people spoke, depending on their class, gender, age, even who they were talking to. I enjoy being able to write sentences along the lines of “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you” AND Georgian slang AND pungent swearing. A Regency novel in which everyone sounds the same, or which sounds just like modern speech except for a few “shalls” and “madams” isn’t taking full advantage of the period, for me.
Do you have a special place for writing?
Working and writing in my kitchen in lockdown with all the family at home nearly killed me. I can write anywhere where there’s a comfy chair, a kettle, and people leave me in peace.
Are you a pantster or a plotter?
I am a horrible, hideous, terrible, atrocious pantser.
What inspired you to write this book?
I think all my books, and maybe most historical romances, are about women’s lives, and how they have always struggled to find a bit of space for themselves in a world that’s not designed by or for them. My heroine, Isabella, is a minor character in my previous book, A DUKE OF ONE’S OWN. She’s very young, but she’s experienced a dreadful bereavement which threw her life completely off track. WHAT THE LADY WANTS shows her determined to make some new memories before she has to go back to being a respectable widow who lives with her parents. She is what would now be described as neurodiverse, and her plan, which seems sensible to her, isn’t necessarily conventional or proper.
What are your hobbies?
I love charity shops and finding a bargain. I don’t like new stuff – I like old stuff that’s been around a bit and has stories to tell.
What advice would you give to other writers?
I don’t see how you can write if you don’t read. I’ve been assessing unpublished manuscripts since 1987, and I promise you, writers who say “all other authors are dreadful and I am amazing” are always really seriously mistaken.
I totally agree, Emma!
About Emma
AUTHOR BIO
Emma Orchard was born in Salford and spent most of her childhood in the library. She studied English Literature at the universities of Edinburgh and York, and then started work at Mills & Boon, where she met her husband in a classic enemies-to-lovers romance. She’s spent her career behind the scenes in TV and publishing, mostly helping other people realise their dreams of becoming authors, and only started writing when she hit 50, being published for the first time at 56. She has two grown-up children, one of whom is also a writer, and lives in North London, where she’s usually to be found in a charity shop.
Contact links
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/EmmaOrchardNews
Twitter: @EmmaOrchardB
Instagram:@emmaorchardbooks
Thanks so much for dropping by to talk to us, Emma. I hope your book soars!
Karen King 